| Summary/Abstract |
Roughly a decade ago, in a commissioned report I wrote for the US National Research Council’s Committee on Behavioral and Social Science Research to Improve Intelligence Analysis for National Security, I characterized those rare and seminal contributors to analytic tradecraft – figures such as Sherman Kent, Jack Davis, and Richards Heuer – as mavericks.1 The term was meant to conjure a heroic image: mavericks are like mythical forces of good bursting upon an otherwise dreary set. They possess energy, brains and noble motives and act to save their communities while others around them are silent or worse. Notwithstanding those noble characteristics, I made the case for why intelligence communities should not choose or be forced to rely on the occasional maverick.
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